Schedule
4Minor
and consequential
amendments Amendments
made: No. 172, in page 40, line 29, at
end insert— ‘In section 54
(permissible donors), in subsection (1)(b), for “that
person” there is substituted “the person offering the
donation”.’. No.
173, in page 40, line 29, at end
insert— ‘In section 55
(payments etc which are (or are not) to be treated as donations by
permissible donors), at the end of subsection (2) there is
inserted— “But
such a payment shall not be regarded as a donation for the purposes of
section 54A or paragraph 6A of Schedule
7.”’. No.
174, in page 40, line 29, at end
insert— ‘In section 56
(acceptance or return of donations: general), in subsection
(5)— (a) in paragraph
(a), for “paragraph (a) or (b)” there is substituted
“paragraph (a), (aa) or
(b)”; (b) in paragraph
(b)(i), for “subsection (2)(a)” there is substituted
“subsection (2)(a) or
(aa)”.’. No.
175, in page 41, line 43, leave out from
beginning to ‘sub-paragraph’ in line 44 and
insert— ‘(1) Schedule 7
(control of donations to individuals and members associations) is
amended as follows.
(2) In sub-paragraph (1)(b) of paragraph 6
(prohibition on accepting donations from impermissible donors), for
“that person” there is substituted “the person
offering the
donation”. (3)
In’. No.
176, in page 42, line 1, leave out from
beginning to ‘sub-paragraph’ and
insert— ‘(1) Schedule 11
(control of donations to recognised third parties) is amended as
follows. (2) In paragraph 4
(payments etc not to be regarded as donations), at the end there is
inserted— “(3)
Any payment out of public funds shall not be regarded as a donation for
the purposes of paragraph
6A.” (3)
In’. No.
177, in page 42, line 4, leave of from
beginning to ‘sub-paragraph’ and
insert— ‘(1) Schedule 15
(control of donations to permitted participants) is amended as
follows. (2) In paragraph 4
(payments etc not to be regarded as
donations)— (a)
sub-paragraph (1)(a) is
omitted; (b) at the end there
is inserted— “(3)
Any payment out of public funds shall not be regarded as a donation for
the purposes of paragraph
6A. (4) For all other purposes
of this Schedule, such a payment shall not be regarded as a donation
unless it is a grant provided to a designated organisation by virtue of
section 110(2).” (3)
In’.—[Mr.
Wills.] Schedule
4, as amended, agreed
to.
Schedule
5Repeals Amendments
made: No. 127, in page 42, line 13, at
end
insert— | ‘In
section 63(3)(b), the words “sheriff
clerk,”.’. |
No.
178, in page 42, leave out lines 25 and 26 and
insert— | ‘In
Schedule 15— (a) paragraph 4(1)(a); (b) in
paragraph 6(1), the word “or” at the end of paragraph
(a).’.—[Mr.
Wills.] |
Schedule
5, as amended, agreed
to. Clauses
16 and 17 ordered to stand part of the
Bill.
Clause
18Extent Amendment
made: No. 199, in page 11, line 37, at
end add— ‘( ) The following
provisions extend also to
Gibraltar— section 1(1)
and (3); section
4; sections 5 to 7, paragraphs
4, 5, 6 and 16 of Schedule 4 and the entry in Schedule 5 relating to
Schedule 1 to the 2000
Act; section
9.’.—[Mr.
Wills.] Clause
18, as amended, ordered to stand part of the
Bill.
Clause
19Commencement Amendment
made: No. 128, in page 12, line 16, at
end insert— ‘( ) section
[Filling vacant European Parliament seats in Northern
Ireland];’.—[Mr.
Wills.] Clause
19, as amended, ordered to stand part of the
Bill. Clause
20 ordered to stand part of the
Bill.
New
Clause
23Person
may not be “responsible person” for more than one third
party ‘(1) Section 88 of the
2000 Act (third parties recognised for the purposes of Part 6 of that
Act) is amended as follows. (2)
In subsection (2)(a), after “(as defined by section
54(8))” there is inserted “who is not the responsible
person in relation to another third
party”. (3) After
subsection (3) there is
inserted— “(3A) A
notification given by a third party does not comply with the
requirement in subsection (3)(b)(iii) or (c)(ii) (to state the name of
the person who will be responsible for compliance) if the person whose
name is stated is— (a)
the responsible person in relation to another third
party, (b) an individual who
gives a notification under subsection (1) at the same time,
or (c) the person whose name is
stated, in purported compliance with the requirement in subsection
(3)(b)(iii) or (c)(ii), in a notification given at the same time by
another third party. In this
subsection “the person”, in relation to a notification to
which subsection (3)(c) applies, is to be read as “the person or
officer”.” (4)
Where— (a) a third party
gives a notification under section 88(4)(b) of the 2000 Act
(“the renewal notification”) in respect of a notification
under section 88(1) (“the original notification”) that
was given before the commencement of this section,
and (b) the original
notification contained a statement under section 88(3)(b)(iii) or
(c)(ii) naming someone who, at the time when the renewal notification
is given, is the responsible person in relation to another third
party, the renewal notification
must indicate (under section 88(6)(b)) that the statement is replaced
by a statement naming someone who is not the responsible person in
relation to another third party.’.—[Mr.
Wills.] Brought
up, and added to the
Bill. Title Amendment
made: No. 129, in line 2, at end insert
‘and electoral registration’.—[Mr.
Wills.] Ordered, That
certain written evidence already reported to the House be appended to
the proceedings of the Committee.—[Mr.
Wills.] Question
proposed, That the Chairman do report the Bill, as amended, to the
House.
Mr.
Wills: On a point of order, Sir Nicholas. We are coming to
the end of our proceedings and now might be my last opportunity to
thank you and your co-Chairmen, Mr. Cook, Mr.
Benton and Mr. Atkinson, for what, all
members of the Committee will agree, has been a most skilful
chairmanship. We are all extremely grateful for the wit, skill and good
humour with which you have helped steer the debate and guide the
members of the Committee, and bring our proceedings to what has been a
successful
conclusion. On
behalf of the whole Committee, I thank the Badge Messengers, our Clerk,
the Hansard reporters and our colleagues from the police. All
have provided a particularly efficient service to the Committee,
especially in view of the large number of amendments tabled by the
Government and the Opposition. I realise the pressure that that puts on
the Committee. We are extremely grateful to them. I particularly thank
Opposition Front-Bench Members—the hon. Members for Huntingdon,
for Epping Forest, for Cambridge and for Argyll and Bute—for
their valuable and comprehensive contributions to the debate and the
diligence with which they have scrutinised the Government’s
proposals under the
Bill. I
am particularly grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Wrexham and
his Opposition counterpart, the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend,
East, for their hard work through the usual channels. I am also
extremely grateful to the other members of the Committee who have
tabled amendments and contributed to our discussions on this important
Bill, including my hon. Friends. The various amendments have made an
extremely useful contribution to our proceedings, particularly those
tabled by my hon. Friends. The Bill has been immeasurably improved, and
we are grateful for
them. All
Opposition Members whose contributions have tested us in debate have
made the Bill stronger and more robust. We have examined in detail most
of the clauses. I can just manage to say that. I hope that members of
the Committee agree that there has been a productive discussion from
both sides. I recognise that we have committed ourselves to coming back
to issues on Report, and I assure my hon. Friend the Member for
Battersea that I mean what I say: we will be coming back to them. I
hope that hon. Members also agree that, while we recognise there is
clearly some way to go on some issues, we have made good progress. The
Bill is in a much better shape now as a result of the amendments and
the hard work that has been put
in. Finally,
I thank the Ministry of Justice officials. I hope that the Committee
agrees that they have done a remarkable job. The Bill has been
difficult and complex in many ways. It has tested them to the limits.
They have worked extremely hard, late into the night and night after
night to make sure that the Bill is in good shape. We all owe them a
great debt of
gratitude.
Mr.
Djanogly: Further to that point of order, Sir
Nicholas. I thank you, Mr. Cook and Mr. Atkinson
for chairing our proceedings over the past weeks. I also thank the
Clerks, the Hansard reporters, the Doorkeepers and the police
for providing the mechanics that have facilitated our deliberations.
The Committee has been conducted in generally good humour and a
positive spirit. I thank all hon. Members for their contributions. Yes,
more time would have allowed for the eight unconsidered clauses to be
covered, but we have covered a lot, in what have been pretty good
debates. The Minister generally has been open-minded and recognised the
need for consensus through our deliberations. That will involve him
returning at the next stage with quite a lot of amendments, but we look
forward to that.
David
Howarth: Further to that point of order, Sir
Nicholas. I would like to add my thanks, especially to you, Sir
Nicholas, and to the other hon. Members who chaired the Committee. You
have chaired the Committee in your usual exemplary fashion and I always
enjoy serving under your chairmanship. I also thank the Minister for
the open spirit with which he has approached the debate, and the
Opposition for providing many hours of amusement, of one sort or
another.
We have not
made good progress, I am afraid to say. We have not reached a large
number of clauses. More than that, we have not reached what are the
central issues for many hon. Members and many members of the public. We
have not debated properly the issue of party expenditure at the
national and local level, although we almost got to it at the end of
the previous debate. We have not debated caps on donations. We had a
few moments on that earlier today, but we did not reach the new clause
on it. We did not debate properly how to deal with foreign ownership of
corporations—again, we had a few words on that—and we did
not debate in any detail how to implement the other aspect of the
Hayden Phillips compromise: dealing in a fair way with the relationship
between the unions and the Labour party. I hope that those issues will
be given priority on Report. We must show the public that we understand
that those are the issues that matter for what the Bill must be about,
which is getting big money out of politics and cleaning up
politics.
To finish on
a happier note, the spirit of the Committee has been very positive, and
I hope that we will take the Bill onwards in that
spirit.
The
Chairman: The last word lies with the Chairman. I thank
the members of the Committee for their generous comments, which I will
ensure are brought to the attention of my co-Chairmen. I thank all
those responsible for the orderly conduct of the Committee. That is,
the Clerks—who do a wonderful job; I do not think that the House
fully appreciates their excellent work—the Hansard
reporters, the police and the Doorkeepers, all of whom are
essential to the orderly conduct of a Public Bill Committee.
May I
congratulate those on the Front Benches, particularly the Minister? I
always admire a Minister who deals with a Bill on his own. It certainly
is not easy; he cannot get away. Like the Chairman, he has to sit there
all the time, but perhaps unlike the Chairman, the Minister must be on
top form and the master of his brief. All those on the Front
Benches—the Official Opposition, the Liberal Democrats and the
Government—have made this, for me, a very enjoyable
Committee.
To end on a
positive note, I really enjoy my job on the Chairmen’s Panel.
One gets to know colleagues in all parts of the House very much better
and one can establish an understanding and a relationship with them,
which I believe is what makes Parliament a great place to be a Member
of. I thank the Committee for the way in which it has dealt with the
Bill. We did not debate it all, but I am sure that the Government will
try to ensure that those parts to which the hon. Member for Cambridge
drew attention get priority during the remaining stages of the
Bill.
Question
put and agreed
to. Bill,
as amended, to be
reported. Committee
rose at fourteen minutes past Four
o’clock.
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